Mav I, 1886.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



7<J5 



hope to have an opportunity of eKamining this ilistrict 

 in the hot weatlier holidays. 



KuuiKS.— The Burmese are very piouil of their ruby 

 uiiLCS: -'Lord of the Ruby Mines" is one of the 

 official titles of the King of Ava. The rubies, or more 

 probably siiinels, are fouud iu the crystalline limestone 

 of Sagaing, Ui miles north of Mamialay, ami at JIngauk 

 and Kyaptin near the Shwen mountain. They were 

 described as occuring in three ways ; 1st. in ijuartz 

 took? (limestone); L'nd. in the soil on the monntain 

 side; ord and chefly, in a bed of gravel below the 

 Burfaec called hma-sa. This gravel is full of water and 

 the rubies are obtained by sinking a well till this 

 stratum is reached. Then a man descends and going 

 heneuth the water tills a bucket and sends it up. 

 At the surface the rubies are separated by washing 

 from clay and sand. The large ones are carefully 

 picked out and the remainder crushed to powder and 

 used for polisbiug. It is composed mainly of octahed- 

 ral crystals of spinel. It is extremely improbable that 

 alumina should crystallize in quartz. What they call 

 quartz is probably crystidline limestone as at Jladaya, 

 or some otlier metamorphic rock. The present holder 

 of the mines had contracted to pay 2| lakhs of rupees 

 to the King, but he is unable to do it. * 



Jade. — This stone is much valued by the Chinese. 

 They obtain it in the river-bed at Mogaung in water- 

 worn boulders. These find their way to (. hina ria 

 Uangoon, the waterway .iown the Irrawaddy being 

 easier than the carawan route over the mountains 

 between Bamaw and China. 



M.vRBLE. — Marble is quarried at Sagyin, Iti miles 

 north of ^landalay. 



IJKOLOUV.--Tlie general geological structure of the 

 country is very simple, tlie principal formations run 

 north aud south in great mountain ranges. The tertiary 

 formations of Pegu extend to Kyontalaung in the 

 gr<>at bend of the river below Ava. The metamiirphic 

 rocks of the Martabau hills are continvied in the Shau 

 hills east of Mandalay. The limestone of the Sahveen 

 in the second defile in Kachin hills east of Bamaw 

 represent the Uawana range east of Jloulmein. The 

 country west of Irrawady is almost unknown. As far 

 as Pagan it is obviously the same formation as the 

 east bank. 'J'hen we have alluvial plains between the 

 Chindwin and Irrawaddy. The Irrawaddy valley be- 

 tween Sagaing and Male at the head of the defile has 

 been described by the late Dr. Oldham. The bills to 

 the westwar<l are alternately metamorphic and teritary 

 rocks. The same condition exists along the west bank 

 as far as Thigyaiug, where the river turns to the 

 eastward. 



The country generally has a great resemblance to 

 the North-West Provinces and hears the same relation 

 to Pegu which they, to do Bengal. — Indian Ai/ricidtttral 

 Gazette. 



Cocoa .snd Coca. — A lengthy article in the current 

 number of the ^fedical Press and Circulaf, by an ex- 

 Lecturer on Anatiimy and Forensic lledicine, on "Cocoa 

 and Cocaine," certainly deserves a place in any future 

 series of "The Curiosities of Literature." In it re- 

 ferences to cocoa, chocolate, aud Eri/lliroxt/hm Cocoa 

 leaves are inextricably int'-^rwoven. As instances of the 

 confusion iu the writer's mind may be quoted three 

 statements occuring within twenty lines : (1) that to 

 jVfr. Dunn we are indebted for popularizing tlu; use 

 of cocoa iu this country; (2) that it is calculated that 

 10,000,C<X) of human beings indulge in cocoa chewing, 

 and (o) that cocoa contains two alkaloids, theobromine 

 and cocaine. After this we are not surprised at bt-ing 

 told that iu the ])reparation of cocaine, after the 

 removal of that alkaloid, "hygeiu" remains in the 

 mo'her-Iiquor. — Pharmaceutical Jovrnal. 



"WiLtow. — A correspondent of the Awprica>i J)n't/t/ist. 

 describes a visit to a ** willow farm " in (ieorgia where 

 400,000 willows are growing and 8lin,000 sHps have 

 bt^eu recently set. The willow switches are allowed to 

 grow for year.s, during which they attain a length of 

 from four to seven feet. They are then cut and after 



being steeped in water the hark is stripped off by 

 machinery and the withes are wiped and done up in 

 bundles. The bark aud the loaves are dried aud ba!e 1, 

 aud comniand a price of twenty-five cents a pouml 

 for medicinal purposes.— /V(ii/H«Ttv«('(f'? .hiuraal. 



* The neighbourhood of our spinel-bearing limesto i< », 

 especially beds of streams ought to be scarced for 

 spinel supplies and rubies.— Kn. 



DISSOLVED BONES. 

 Bv Db. A. P. AlTKEN. 



Chemist to the Hiijhhvid and Ai/riciiltural Societi/. 



Bones coarsely crushed had not long been in use as a 

 manure; before it was found that their efficacy was 

 greatly enhanced by dissolving them to .some extent in 

 sulphuric acid. That was a very important discovery, 

 which not only marked an ejioch iu agriculture, hut gave 

 rise to a new industry, which has now assumed large 

 proportions, aud indirectly had a beneficial intiuenue on 

 the whole manufacturing' trade of the country. Its 

 immediate eft'ect as regards the use of bones was to 

 transform them from a slow into a quick-acting manure, 

 capable of being applied with .advantage to crops who.se 

 period of growth was of short duration. It enabled 

 farmers very considerably to reduce their expenditure in 

 the purchase of bones, for it was found that oue bu.shel 

 of bones when dissolved with acid produced a far more 

 immediate aud powerful effect upon the crop than two 

 or three bushels of crushed bones ; aud as the price of 

 bones rapidly rose in proportion as their use became 

 more general, this discovery was a great boon to agri- 

 culture. Farmers bought sulphuric acid and dissolved 

 the bones themselves, but as this was a troublesome 

 operation, and not unattended with danger, a class of 

 men arose who made it their business to disisolve bones 

 aud supply farmers with the finished article. This was 

 the beginning of the manure manufacture, and it was 

 not long before it was found that coprolites and all 

 other phosphates were capable of being dissolved iu a, 

 similar manner so that superphosphates and other 

 dissolved manures came rapidly into existence. The 

 great promoter of this new industry was Sir .John 

 Bennett I^awes, who not only led the way in the manu- 

 facture of manures, but also studied their eft'ects upon 

 his experimental farm at Kothanisted. and instructed 

 farmers regarding their properties aud the method of 

 their application. This new industry gave a great 

 impulse to the manufacturo of sulphuric acid, and as 

 that is a substance which forms the chief basis of our 

 chemical manufactures, the effect of this discovery 

 influenced the manufactures of the country in their 

 most remote ramifications. 



AVe have seen that bones contain about half their 

 weight of phosphate of lime — the other half consists 

 chiefly of organic matter. The phosphate of lime in 

 hones is what is called insoluble phosphate, that is to 

 say, a combination of phosphoric acid with as much 

 lime as it can unite with. But one-third^ or two- 

 thirds of the lime can be taken away and still leave 

 definite compounds. When two-thirds of the lime have 

 been taken away, the compound formed is soluble in 

 water, and is called soluble phosphate of lime. The 

 object of ailding sulphuric acid to bone phosphate is 

 to remove two-thirds of the lime by converting it into 

 sulphate of lime, ju.st as iu the case of superphosphate, 

 which is a mixture of .soluble phosphate of lime and 

 sulphate of linio. P.ut in dissolving bones it is found 

 that if enough of acid is added to convert all the 

 phosphates into the soluble form, the whole is converted 

 into a liquid mass, which refu.ses to dry up, and is unfit 

 for use as a manure. This is owing to the organic matter 

 in the bones. There is therefore a prai:tical limit set to 

 the proportion of soluble phospliati^ which dissolved 

 bones can contain. It varies a little-, accorlln r to the 

 amount of organic matter and moisture e.i..L.ined in 

 the bones, but as a rule, in thit case of pure dissolved 

 bones, not much more than half the phosphate is 

 present in the soluble form. The usual practice of 

 manufacturers of pure dissolved bones is to a.ld mnrc 

 acid than is nen.essary, ami to dry up the product with 

 fine bone meal, aud by careful mixing and somewhat 

 laborious treatment produce a sohihle manure, 



